If you are looking for a specific person or organization, or if you just want to peruse our holdings, then the complete alphabetical lists of collections are the best place to start.

Under Collections by Subjects you will find recommended collections listed under general topics. These guides can be very useful for getting an overview of our major subject areas and for researchers trying to plan a project.

The searchable online finding aids on the Five College Archives and Manuscripts Web site offer detailed descriptions and container lists for many, but not all SSC collections. It includes full finding aids for all processed SSC collections and many brief finding aids (without container lists) for many unprocessed collections open to research (as of January 2009, there are 267 full finding aids online and 195 brief ones). You can also search finding aids of the Smith College Archives, and the archives at Mt. Holyoke, Amherst, and Hampshire Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts (Amherst).

If a full finding aid for a collection is available online, a link is provided in the alphabetical lists of collections and in the Library Catalog.

All but a few closed (definition) collections are described in the Five College Libraries Catalog. The catalog is searchable by name, subject, or keyword. Catalog records for archival and manuscript collections provide a brief overview; they do not usually describe individual items.

Note: While the online finding aids site is growing continually, it represents only a portion of our total holdings. If a finding aid is not online yet, you can obtain a copy from the SSC reference staff (as long as the collection is not restricted), or visit us in person.

Information about our collections is also available in printed form in many academic and research libraries (although not as up-to-date as the online resources). These include the printed catalog of the Sophia Smith Collection: Women's History Archive (G.K. Hall, l984), a seven-volume photoreproduction of the card catalog. The more general SSC Catalog (1976), Catalog Supplement (1984), and Picture Catalog (1972) are also in many libraries. The first two are also available from the Sophia Smith Collection. Many of our holdings are also listed in Women's History Sources (l978) and the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (l959-1985). Both are available in in many academic and research libraries (although not as up-to-date as the online resources).